Hanging the Pendle Witches

Eerie is the word of the day today. We have hung the exhibition, A Pendle Investigation, and it is all about the Pendle Witches. Hence the title of this post. I'm not being facetious; it genuinely felt quite spooky when we uttered these words!

Judge
Joe Hesketh
Oil on Canvas 2011

 2012 is the 400 year anniversary of the Pendle Witches and there are a number of activities celebrating, remembering or honoring (however you prefer to say it) the story of these men and women, who were hung at Lancaster in August 1612.

If you want to read more about the story of the Pendle Witches click here and if you want to know more about the Pendle Witches anniversary events click here or to see our upcoming Pendle Witch themed exhibitions click here

 Here is our artist; Joe Hesketh.

 All of the works are inspired by the true story of the Pendle Witches. I asked Joe what made her decide on this particular story.

Joe explained she had always been fascinated by the Pendle Witches, since she was a child. The fact that it was the 400 year anniversary spurred her on and she thought "it was time I really looked into it". Joe's work is usually about her life in Pendle as a Nothern female living in this time, so it fit well together to look at the lives of other women living in a different era. Joe explained that she knew the story well, but not all the details and once she started researching the story in more detail she was taken by the idea of how these women were jugded. Joe says "people judge me instantly, like that (clicks fingers), and it seemed to be the same with the witches, that people judged them to be different. I'm not saying that people don't accept me, but that people like to put other people in boxes, to try and know what people are about". Joe and I agree here, you never know what goes on inside people and you can't judge a book by it's cover. I seem to have typed the word judge a lot here and there is a painting of that name in the exhibition. Judge was inspired by Roger Nowell, who Joe thinks probably wanted to be famous and that it was Rogers involvement that really sealed the witches doom.

Joe went on to discuss how she imagined people to be more superstitious and frightened 400 years ago, none more so than King James I who strongly believed in witches and believed them to be a threat. Perjury was inspired by the King and if you look at the close up below, you can see a crown.

To produce this body of work, Joe was able to secure an Arts Council Grant and to start the work she decided to walk and camp the route the witches would have taken from Pendle to Lancaster. It took 4 days to do this and although no one is exactly sure which route the witches would have taken, Joe worked with local historian John Clayton to plan the most likely route. This followed the old Roman Road through the Trough of Bowland which was there in 1612 and is still there now. Joe said "I wanted to really feel the story, not just read the books, which I did. So I thought, why not just walk the path and follow in their footsteps." Although we did discuss here whether or not the witches walked, were taken in a carriage or prison wagon or were dragged. Joe thinks they were probably dragged. Which is a horrific thought.

Back to the journey; Joe was expecting to get some drawings and hoped the 4 days would affect her. She was not fully prepared for the way it did affect her, it was a much more powerful experience than expected, particularly the long days walking on her own.

"One day it felt like they were following me, it was eerie, I looked back at one point and for a split second I saw four women sat down wearing dark clothes. The next second it was just some bushes".

I found this a really interesting statement, Joe was following the route of the witches, if anything I would have expected her to be behind the witches, yet here she was thinking they were walking behind her.

She also stopped for a cheese sandwich at the twisted trees by the river in the Trough of Bowland and these trees are more than 400 years old. She spent time thinking if the witches stopped here or if they had any breaks on the journey at all. Her journal describes "I've been thinking about the witches a lot, it's hard to get in your head this is the actual road they were taken on, tarmac for one, puts it out of place, but look around and see the twisted trees and bubbling bank of the trickling river and you can kind of put yourself right in it."

Joe managed to choose a really grim 4 days to do this walk, with lots of rain. She kept a notebook and scribbled down her feelings and impressions. One entry states; "I wanted it to be grim, but not this grim". A photo taken at the time shows Joe soaked through and unable to smile any more after spending a day walking in the rain, stopping regularly to pour water from her boots. But she smiles today "At least I wasn't hung at the end".

At the start of the walk, Joe had an idea what her work would be like, but she says they ended up very different, with much more detail and information. She says this is because she could feel that time, feel how much more basic life was and how bare the area was, and how grim it must have felt.

So here is a look at the work, including some of the close ups Joe mentioned to me.

Tits up
Joe Hesketh
Oil on Canvas 2011

From this angle, mouth turned down

From this angle, growling

Untitled
Joe Hesketh
Drawing 2011

Wicca
Joe Hesketh
Oil on Canvas 2011

I am particularly scared by the man on the left in this one.

Untitled
Joe Hesketh
Drawing 2011

Perjury
Joe Hesketh
Oil on Canvas 2011

Here is the crown

Can you see a lobster?

Untitled
Joe Hesketh
Drawing 2011

Drunk
Joe Hesketh
Oil on Canvas 2011

I am particularly drawn to crosses, hence the next photo...

Untitled
Joe Hesketh
Drawing 2011

Untitled
Joe Hesketh
Drawing 2011

 I hope you enjoyed that folks? It's certainly a powerful exhibition, so for today I'm just telling the story of this work. Soon, I'll post more about Joe herself.

Ta Ra



Kirsty



Here are Some of the Comments from Padiham Painting at Leisure Exhibition!

'A great exhibition; wonderful paintings. Great talents. This group should exhibit more often. A pleasure to visit'

'Excellent display of some very good quality paintings'

'Love the clown picture. Fantastic'

'If this was a competition it would be hard to judge. Well done one and all'

'Today I decided to come to the fair. I have come to the exhibition aswell and it is the best one so far! Well done, good luck in the future - 5 stars'

'I come to the ACE Centre regularly to view the art exhibitions, yours is the best by far! Congratulations on your fantastic work'

'I loved the art it was really touching'

'Amazing, but could do with some more paintings (some are scary)'

'Very good. A lot better than abstracts'

'I enjoyed the paintings, lovely'

Why not pay a visit yourself, and make up your mind? You never know, you might find something to take home...

Padiham Painting at Leisure Group Exhibition

Padiham Painting at Leisure Group Exhibition

 

Today I talked to Clare Smith of Padiham Painting at Leisure group, who are the current exhibitors at the ACE Centre about her work, the group themselves and the exhibition that is on.

Clare originally got into art when she was younger, as her granddad who was a member himself of Padiham Painting at Leisure group for 20 years, would take her with him and hang the group’s work in the summer holidays, when she was about 6 years old. She did art all through school, and college, and was always interested in art and creativity, but only really took it up as an independent hobby when she left university six years ago.

Clare works in oil paint for her pieces, as it’s is quite flexible if you make mistakes, and she likes the actual technique when using it. She used to work solely from pictures in magazines and calendars for example, but says now takes a lot more photos and does preliminary sketches. Clare also said she creates a lot of the pieces after she has visited the place and taken in the atmosphere, and that she thinks it’s easier and better to create pieces from places you know. She loves the local countryside such as Pendle Hill and also the Lake District, which is where she got the inspiration for the piece below (Thirlmere), after she had been on walk there. Clare is particularly interested in light and tonal aspects of painting as well as colour. This is particularly prominent in the ‘Thrilmere’ piece, where Clare has paid particular attention to capturing the light hitting the water subtily, but effectively.

The group who are exhibiting, are the Padiham Painting at Leisure group. They have been running for over 20 years and are a very varied group of artists. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never done any artwork before in your life, or if you are an experienced artist, the group brings together people who want to have a go and enjoy art! There are no regimented rules, or scary exams, it’s all about giving it a go and having some fun, while creating some nice artwork in the process. 

Their tutor is Iris Owen and the group run six different classes a week, so everyone can find one they are available for. The group vary in many ways. The age ranges from 6 years old-93 years old, so everyone is welcome to join. Some artists paint in oil, some in acrylic, or watercolour, and some even do mixed media, and fabric pieces. It’s all about experimenting and giving it a go, to find how you work best and can develop as an artist. There are also many different subjects. While some are inspired by detailed landscapes, others prefer still life, or buildings.

Although diverse in many ways, the group all share a common interest of creating artwork and having fun.

If you are interested and would like to come along and join in one of Padiham Painting at Leisure classes then they would be glad to have you.

After all, as Pablo Picasso once said,
"Action is the foundational key to all success." 

The classes run:

Tuesdays

10.30am – 12.30pm

1.45pm – 3.45pm

7.00pm – 9.00pm

Thursdays

7.00pm – 9.00pm

Fridays

1.45pm – 3.45pm

7.00pm – 9.00pm

Bye for Now
Rosie

Skin Preview Evening

Here are the pictures from the preview evening....

I even dared put myself on a pic!

And can I just finish with a new record, our very first QR tag for the gallery! We are cutting edge here folks! (We isn't really right as it's Helen's QR tag and takes you to her website, which is here)

Ta Ra

Kirsty 

An interview with new exhibitor Helen Oxley

Helen describes herself as a process painter, which means that her work is all about the process itself. She drips canvas, pours paint and pushes canvas and paint through the frames. She does make the frames herself, and sometimes her dad helps.

Her dad helps hang too – here he is in action!

She mostly uses gloss paint in her work for its fluidity (because it’s drippy to you and me!) and it is rather toxic and fume-y. Helen has been sniffing this for a good few months now! In all seriousness though, Helen does open the doors and window in her studio and limits herself to 4 hours at time. She is thinking about making the move to using Acrylic Gloss but there is a more limited colour range, her usual range is Dulux Trade who have about a ‘zillion’ colours according to Helen.

So what does she wear? Old jeans with a spattering of paint, old tops with a spattering of paint and old shoes with (you guessed it) a spattering of paint! She isn’t able to keep a headscarf on as she moves around a lot so she also tends to get a lot of paint spatters in her hair too. Helen tends to work from back to front and top to bottom so she gets dripped on a lot.

Her studio has inspirational images on the wall, dried paint on there too – not dabs of it but she collects the round bits that dry out from the bottom of old gloss paint tins, and notes and quotes. She either has music on or the radio and listens to a wide range of artists depending on her mood. Furniture wise there is a table, 2 chairs and some shelves which are mostly full of tins of paint. She thinks in excess of 100 tins of paint. Helen uses the tins to prop paintings up while she is working on them or while they are drying and to hold the door open. I asked, and the number of paint tin related injuries or accidents this year was only 2 both involving floors; one studio and one car boot. (Joint car boot too).

I wondered if she had a little ritual before she started work, but there was nothing out of the ordinary, has coffee and a bit of thinking time and then sometimes starts with doing some work on her sketchbook. Swap sketchbook for To Do List and that could be my office morning routine.

So Helen explained a little bit more about Process Painting;  

Process painting began in the 1960’s with Richard Serra (have a nosy at his MoMA exhibition here from 2007 http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/14) , and Helens main inspirations include Rothko, particularly his colour fields, Barnett Newman who is very painterly (both can be found here http://www.theartstory.org/movement-color-field-painting.htm )  and Lucio Fontana who was the one who started slashing canvasses although his work is more conceptual than Helens. (See Lucio’s work here http://www.speronewestwater.com/cgi-bin/iowa/artists/record.html?record=4 which includes a picture of him in action slashing!)

Helen is also impressed by Karla Black who was a runner up for The Turner Prize last year (you can watch a video of her and her work here, although I will give this video an art speak warning http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/video/2011/nov/15/turner-prize-2011-karla-black-video). Speaking of the Turner Prize, £25,000 to the winner – that’s why it’s important folks, here is a link to this years nominees, http://www.tate.org.uk/context-comment/articles/turner-prize-2012-shortlist-announced  ,who do you think will get it? Me, I reckon Spartacus, mostly because it’s a great name!

When Helen creates work, she tries to always make something new and she describes this as “questioning what painting is really”.

Blue Tryptch

When Helen was making this piece she was thinking about the exhibition here at The ACE, she tends to like working on a large scale but made this into a triptych for practical reasons really – i.e. moving the work and installing it. She had some photographs of Monet’s water lilies – the really large panoramics – have a look here… http://www.moma.org/collection/object.php?object_id=80220 . Helen was thinking of scale and grandness but was also thinking about the building and the space her work was going to be shown in, and it is a “colour that is pleasing to me”.

At this point our interview was interrupted by Helen’s dad wanting a staple gun. Luckily Helen had one in her bag, and some staples. I was impressed. Like father, like daughter we decided.

Eighty-Six, 2012, mixed media on canvas, £850

Monochrome is a challenge for Helen as she loves colour, even pronouncing it, “I luurve colour”, but she was thinking of our purple wall in the gallery and it was a deliberate choice to do this and come out of her comfort zone.

This exhibition is called Skin for a few reasons; the paint Helen uses skins over, there is an element of the work being about the body and Helen particularly likes the way the paints skins over and dries on one layer but leaves wet layers underneath.

Then I asked about titles of work as it does give us a little insight into our Exhibiting Artists mind. These are mostly ambiguous, not descriptive titles, I asked if Helen liked ambiguity and she replied quickly “Yes, Yes I do” and went on to explain that her work was fundamentally abstract and she was not trying to make people feel something or wonder something but she liked people to think ‘How did she do that?’.

One is called Subcutis, which is the third layer of skin and this was simply because Helen liked the word.

Subcutis, 2012, gloss paint on canvas, £1150

Another is The Newman Painting No 1. which is a nod to two artists; Bryce Marsden who titled a work The Dylan Painting (have a look here, http://www.sfmoma.org/explore/collection/artwork/25612, it’s mostly grey) and it was a title Helen liked and also the work reminded her of Newman’s work so it’s a nod to both artists.

The Newman Painting No1, Diptych, 2012, gloss paint on canvas, £2100

Helen’s work is physically draining, it’s a tiring process and she feels physically and mentally drained afterwards. As I usually like to compare things I mentioned I spent 4 hours digging up dandelions on Sunday morning and asked Helen if she thought her 4 hours in the studio would be as, less or more tiring than this Herculean feat of mine! She reckoned on a par! And she does this regularly, humpf, some steam gone out of me…

She did say she felt like she had achieved something after working, so it was a good tired. I know how that feels, as I sat back with a coffee and admired my clean, dandelion free, soil, while deliberately not looking at the other patches of garden filled with approximately a ‘zillion’ more dandelions.  

I asked Helen how she knew when she had finished a piece and she said, “now that’s the million dollar question” at which point I puffed my chest out again – get me asking such a good question… to which the answer was – deciding when to stop is really hard. Sometimes she puts things to one side and comes back to them later to decide whether to add anything more.

She said the process can be mentally draining and exciting too, sometimes she will start a work and love it, then an hour later she may hate it and think it isn’t working at which point sometimes she will walk away and leave it and sometimes she will hunker down and work though it. The next day she may love it and sometimes she will abandon a work.

This inspired me – I think we should have an Abandoned Works exhibition. Helen liked the idea, as one mans rubbish is another’s treasure after all. Watch this space.

So here are more pictures of Skin, Helen’s first ever solo show, and if you are free between 6.30 and 8pm on Thursday 10^th May join Helen at The ACE for a glass of wine and a look around, oh and I’ll be there too. We’d love to see you.

Tremorlands, 2012, mixed media on canvas, £850

Seethe, 2012, mixed media on canvas, £850

Untitled No1, 2012, gloss paint on canvas, £1150

Murmur, Triptych, 2012, gloss paint on canvas, £2850

Between Red and Yellow, 2012, gloss paint on canvas, £1150